


Bombs and Shaking Hands

by spider_on_the_subway



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bombs, Explosions, Gen, It seems like a character dies but you can't be sure, Peter Parker Whump, Short One Shot, Whump, honestly your guess is as good as mine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:27:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23519947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spider_on_the_subway/pseuds/spider_on_the_subway
Summary: After finally finding her home, Natasha is given an extremely important assignment- protect Tony Stark's kid.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 44





	Bombs and Shaking Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! This was originally written for the first few days of Whumptober when I had unrealistic goals about my work ethic when it comes to writing. Now it's just a one-shot!  
> **Also heads up: as this was a Whumptober story, there is whump and you can't really tell if a character dies at the end or not, so just keep that in mind if that might bother you.**  
> Enjoy!

Her hands were shaking. Her hands were shaking and she wasn’t composed. Her hands were shaking and the world was falling to pieces. Her hands were shaking and her ears were ringing and all she could see were the teen’s terrified eyes.

The trembling of her hands was so slight that no one but her would notice. But for Natasha Romanoff, it was monumental. Since she was a child, she was nothing if she wasn't in control of her emotions. So she took a deep breath, trying to force her hands to still.

_ She’s just another girl.  _ It sickened her to think of Piper that way, but she had to. She had to make the teen impersonal, so no matter what happened…it wouldn’t hurt.  _ Just another number added to the body count.  _

But she wasn’t! She wasn’t just another girl and she hadn’t died.

_ Yet. _

Somewhere, in a vague place in the back of her mind, Natasha registered that she was safe and that Piper was in good hands. But that didn’t matter. He had  _ trusted her _ . Tony Stark, the man who had learned the hard way to never depend on anyone had trusted her, Natasha Romanoff, with one of the most important things in his life. And she...she had messed it up. 

_ He’s going to kill me.  _ Natasha thought absently. A wry smile pulled at her lips.  _ And I’ll deserve it. _

_ *** _

It had been a rather calm day by Natasha’s standards. Waking up to a sunrise over the New York skyline was somehow always a pleasant surprise, even though she’d lived here for almost a year. About ten months, actually- the longest she’d ever managed to stay in one place. Before choosing Tony’s side in his feud with Steve, safety had been an abstract concept to Natasha. She’d always been on the run, permanently displaced and haunted by her memories of the Red Room. But the moment she took a stand and fought with Tony, she’d had a home. When they returned home from Germany, he’d offered her a room in the newly repurchased Stark Tower. She politely declined, wishing to finally have a place of her own. When she miraculously found a brand new apartment with a glorious view priced well below market value, she didn’t mention it. Instead, she chose to simply buy Tony coffee and be on call when he needed her. Sometimes he called her for asinine reasons, such as going to find steel bobby pins for a science experiment. Sometimes it was for a mission. However, he always gave her the option to opt out of a mission, for which she was grateful. Truly, she’d help him with anything, but he gave her the choice. 

This was the first time he’d truly called her asking for a favor.

Her phone sounded at seven in the morning, startling Natasha out of a haze of sleepiness. She picked up instantly, recognizing the number.

Once the two made it through their casual greetings, Tony took a deep breath and started to talk. Cautiously, in an uncharacteristically serious voice, Tony told her about a girl, a teenage girl. She wasn’t technically his daughter, he hastened to tell her, but she was close enough. As he described her, Natasha knew that she was being let in on a precious secret. He was trusting her with someone who seemed to be more important to him than even Pepper.

Then he informed her of the fact that a new terrorist organization had begun to track the movements of influential people across America. Their goal was to murder the official’s relatives or friends in order to weaken them and their power. So far, they had succeeded in killing ten relatives of government officials.

Finally, Tony relayed his true message: he needed Natasha to watch over his daughter while he was out of the country for a week on a business trip. The girl’s normal guardian, her aunt, was scheduled to work overtime all week at the hospital. Natasha instantly agreed to help.

***

From the moment Natasha and Piper met, they got along perfectly. Four days into Tony’s business trip, Piper got an ‘A’ on her Spanish test and Natasha decided to take the girl out for a celebration. She arrived at Piper’s apartment and knocked on her door, taking note of the damp darkness of the hallway outside the teen’s door. When Piper opened the door, the dark circles under her eyes told worlds about the amount of stress her schoolwork was putting her under. 

The moment Natasha suggested a trip out of the apartment, however, her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

The two ended up roller skating and then eating dinner at a diner that Piper insisted had “the best burgers in all of Queens”. 

Natasha was just starting to tease Piper about her apparent crush on one of her classmates when it happened.

Piper abruptly straightened, her relaxed shoulders tensing and dark eyes widening. Quickly wiping ketchup off her mouth with twitching fingers, the teen leaned towards the former assassin.

“Something’s wrong” Her voice was a hiss, desperate and secretive. “It’s- I feel like we’re in danger.”

Natasha didn’t stop to question her. Exploding into action, she threw cash onto the table, grabbed Piper’s wrist, and dragged her out of the restaurant without a second thought.

Once they successfully had traveled a block away from the diner, Piper suddenly halted.

Natasha, already guessing her thought process, continued to pull the girl away from the building. “No. No one else is your responsibility. We’re going to the Tower  _ now.” _

But Piper was dragging her feet, attempting to pull her arm out of Natasha’s grip.

“But what if someone gets hurt in whatever this is, ‘Tasha? We have to help people if-”

In that moment, the whole world started crashing around Natasha’s shoulders. A man in a long winter coat roughly pushed through the crowd at her left. 

It took her an embarrassingly long moment to recognize why this was odd; it was late spring.

She turned to Piper in what felt like slow motion, yanking on her wrist to protectively drag her towards her chest. The teen’s eyes widened in realization, fear and then another emotion creeping onto her face.  _ Determination. _

Piper launched herself at Natasha, curling her body around the older woman in an effort to protect her from the inevitable. The spy struggled, trying to reverse their roles in a panic. 

_ The whole point of this was to protect her! Tony would- _

The whole world exploded into a whirlwind of color and sound, a hellscape of fire and agony. Piper was screaming, and then she wasn’t anymore.

Natasha’s ears rang furiously, and a deadweight was on top of her chest. Groaning, she pushed it off of her and stumbled to her feet, falling away from where she’d previously lay. But the air was thick with smoke and her eyes burned whenever she tried to blink them open and- Piper. Piper? Where was she?

Natasha forced her eyes to open, and then immediately wished she hadn’t. Her young charge was crumpled on the ground lying in a slowly growing pool of crimson blood. Her clothes were torn and stray flames licked her limbs. 

The older woman swayed for a moment, wondering if this was all a terrible nightmare. Then, with her last remaining energy, Natasha struggled to pull Piper out of the flames before finally collapsing beside her.

Whispering soft apologies to the girl in Russian, Natasha finally allowed her eyes to slip closed.

***

The blinding white lights of the hospital surrounded the spy as she waited to learn what had happened to Tony Stark’s daughter. The man himself was due to arrive any moment, and Natasha knew she was in for hell when he did.  _ She’d failed. _

So when the doors to the ER slammed open and Tony sprinted into the room with a pale face and rumpled suit, Natasha stood to meet him with a grim face and trembling hands.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone is staying safe with everything happening in the world right now! Thank you for reading, and I always appreciate feedback!


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